Personal Socialization Project the Objective

Personal Socialization Project

The objective of this work is to take the discussion about race and apply them in the life of the researcher of this project. This work will address the question if "what is race" and "what purpose does the concept of race serve in contemporary society?" Further, this work will relate what the researcher learned about race and ethnicity and from whom was this learned and in what manner were these instructions given? The experiential knowledge of the researcher relating to educational institutions will be related and finally the consequences of having held this particular view will be related.

"Measuring Race and Ethnicity: Why and How?" states the fact: "Race and ethnicity are constantly evolving concepts, deceptively easy to measure and used ubiquitously in the biomedical literature, yet slippery to pinpoint as definitive individual characteristics. A current dictionary definition of race is 'a family, tribe, people, or nation belonging to the same common stock, or a class or kind of people unified by shared interests, habits, or characteristics." (Winker, 2004) it is interesting to note that in 1850 in the United States there was the default race of white and places to mark with a check by those who were either black or mulatto. In 1860, the category of Indian was added and "since 1960 individuals have been able to specify their own race and ethnicity, and by 2000 the census enumerated 126 racial and ethnic categories." (National Institutes of Health. 2004; as cited in Winker, 2004)

I. WHAT IS RACE/ETHNICITY?

The work of Dennis O'Neil (2006) states that human 'races' are "primarily cultural creations, not biological realities. The commonly held belief in the existence of human biological races is based on the false assumption that anatomical traits such as skin color and specific facial characteristics, cluster together in single distinct groups of people. They do not. There are no clearly distinct 'black, 'white', or other races." While this is a wonderful view, and is a factual view, this still is not the view that the world-at-large holds. The writer of this work is of the Japanese race and was taught about race and ethnicity by the parents of the writer who explained that the world was a very large place full of countries such as Japan with many different kinds of people that talked different, looked different, and had different beliefs that were held in the country of Japan.

II. EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS and RACE/ETHNICITY

The work of Jonathan Kozol (2005) entitled: "Still Separate, Still Unequal" published in Harper's Magazine relates "Many Americans who live far from our major cities and who have no firsthand knowledge of the realities to be found in urban public schools seem to have the rather vague and general impression that the great extremes of racial isolation that were matters of grave national significance some thirty-five or forty years ago have gradually but steadily diminished in recent years." The truth is that this trend has completely reversed over the past ten years and schools that were deeply segregated two or three decades ago are "no less segregated now, while thousands of other schools around the country that had been integrated either voluntarily or by the force of law have since been re-segregating." (Kozol, 2005) as a Japanese student, attending an international school the writer of this work has not really felt any race/ethnic issues in terms of negative ones presented as challenges or barriers except the one area of speaking English in front of many people, which does cause anxiety. The greatest anxiety experienced has been the $5,000 per semester tuition as compared to the $2,000 for U.S. citizens to attend the university.

III. FACTORS of RACE/ETHNICITY in SOCIETAL CATEGORIZATION

The work of Kozol further relates an interview with students in high school in which discussed were the deep segregation in the neighborhoods and public schools. Kozol states that these high school students: "...seem far less circumspect than their elders and far more open in their willingness to confront these issues." (2006) in fact, it is stated by a fifteen-year-old-girl named Isabel that Kozol reports having et in Harlem who attempted to give an explanation to the manner in which social segregation was understood by Isabel and her classmates: "It's as if you have been put in a garage where, if they don't have room for something but aren't sure if they should throw it out, they put it there where they don't need to think of it again." (2006) When Isabel was asked "if she thought America truly did not 'have room' for her or other children of her race..." (Kozol, 2006) Isabel's friend also being interviewed stated: "Think of it this way...If people in New York woke up one day and learned that we were gone, that we hade simply died or left for somewhere else, how would they feel....I think they'd be relieved..." this young girl is stated to have "solemnly replied." (Kozol, 2006)

IV. ROLE of COLONIZATION in RACE/ETHNICITY HIERARCHAL STRUCTURE